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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Celebrations, whether public or pri- 

 vate, to be sufficiently distinguished, de- 

 manded something new — a new poem, 

 new music, new dance motions. Thus 

 arose the professional schools of the time, 

 where girls and women were taught to 

 write poetry and music. The best known 

 of these was the School of Sappho at 

 Mitylene, although there were many 

 others — two others even in Mitylene. 



Sappho's school was in a house in the 

 city, and young women came from all 

 that part of the world to attend it. We 

 know the name of one girl who came 

 from Greece itself to join this school. 

 They were taught the rules of poetry, and 

 to compose music and poetry, for the life 

 of the people called for new music and 

 new poetry almost every day. 



There was a great demand also for new 

 hymns to the gods, as each town wished 

 to surpass the others in its festivals, and 

 each great victory in war or celebration 

 of some local event depended for success 

 on the poetry and music of the occasion. 



In time of peace, wedding songs were 

 constantly needed, as every bridegroom 

 then, doubtless, as at the present time, 

 considered his own bride the most beau- 

 tiful of all living women, and desired to 

 provide the newest and the best poetry 

 for the nuptial ceremony. Thus it came 

 about that the wedding songs written by 

 Sappho were among the most beautiful 

 of her poems. 



These early schools for music and 

 poetry, which provided for the artistic 

 needs of the people, seem to have existed 

 before any school of philosophy was 

 known. 



THE FIRST SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY 



The first school of philosophy was es- 

 tablished in Miletus by Thales, one of 

 the Wise Men, and was quite a remark- 

 able institution, exerting an influence for 

 more than a century. 



Thales seems to have given himself 

 more entirely to this school than to any of 

 his other undertakings. There is a legend 

 that he never married, and when his 

 mother pressed him to do so he said : "It 

 is not yet time.'' After his youth was 

 passed she again urged him to marry and 

 he said : "It is no longer time." 



Many of the subjects taught in his 

 school, such as astronomy, geometry, and 

 geography, show the influence of Egypt 

 and Phoenicia; but the philosophy was 

 probably an original product, for while 

 some of the sciences were somewhat ad- 

 vanced, the philosophy was apparently a 

 first attempt at an explanation of the 

 origin of the world. It originated a 

 movement which culminated more than 

 a century later in the idealism of Plato. 



We may perhaps understand something 

 of the attitude of the common people to- 

 ward Thales' School of Philosophy from 

 the story of the old woman who laughed 

 when the master fell backward into a 

 ditch after gazing too long at the stars. 

 The old woman not only laughed, but 

 she is said to have called after him: "If 

 you cannot see what is under your feet, 

 how can you understand what is in 

 heaven ?" 



GEOGRAPHY AND ASTRONOMY WERE THEN 

 PRIMITIVE STUDIES 



The geography and astronomy taught 

 in this school were very primitive : The 

 earth was flat ; the sun circled around it 

 horizontally, being concealed at night by 

 high hills. One writer of the time de- 

 scribes the world in the following poeti- 

 cal way : "God makes a mantle, large and 

 fair, and embroiders on it earth and 

 ocean and ocean's dwellings." 



It is probable that the schools of the 

 eastern Mediterranean possessed an an- 

 cient form of charter which consecrated 

 them to the purpose of learning and pre- 

 vented interference in their activities by 

 the city. 



In their charter, some god was selected 

 for the patron deity, and his statue would 

 be the first thing seen on entering the 

 school building or the grounds. Sacrifices 

 were offered to this particular deity, and 

 processions and banquets were made in 

 his honor and holidays were given on his 

 feast days. Frequently some of the god- 

 desses or muses were selected, for one of 

 the poets says : "Loud crying is not fitting 

 in a house dedicated to the muses." 



This form of charter was called a 

 thiasos, and is fully described in later 

 times in connection with the schools of 

 xA.thens. The strongest reason for be- 



